Over the years, various devices and apparatuses have been developed in an effort to protect hoses, cables, wiring and the like from physical damage. In particular, numerous cable protector designs have been developed to protect cabling extending across walkways, roadways, and construction sites from physical damage caused by pedestrians, vehicular traffic and other such external elements. Cable protectors have also proven useful in helping to minimize the risk of pedestrians tripping over such cabling. For the purposes of this disclosure, the terms “cable” and “cabling” shall be broadly construed to include data cables, hoses, electrical wiring, telephone cables, conduits, optical fibers, pneumatic tubing, plumbing, and any other length of material.
Conventional cable protectors typically include one or more channels extending in parallel between opposing ends of the cable protector to receive one or more cables. Side ramps may extend laterally outward from, or may be removably attachable to, the sides of the cable protector to allow vehicles and the like to roll over the top of the cable protector. Interlockable T-shaped connector elements may be formed on the ends of the cable protector to enable a series of cable protectors to be attached together in an end-to-end fashion to accommodate cables of varying lengths. T-shaped connector elements may also be formed on the sides of the cable protector to enable a number of cable protectors to be attached in a parallel side-by-side fashion to accommodate large numbers of cables. Similarly, T-shaped side connectors may be formed on the sides of the side ramps to enable their removable attachment to the sides of the cable protector.
Traditionally, the side ramps extending from or attachable to conventional cable protectors are formed with a relatively short base and steep slope. Although this relatively steep slope is easily navigable by motorized vehicles and pedestrians of average strength, these slopes can be a significant hurdle or obstacle to the elderly or handicapped. Accordingly, the side ramps extending from or attachable to some conventional cable protectors have been formed with a more gradual slope so that a wheelchair, walker or the like can pass over the cable protector with minimal effort. These conventional ramps have also been equipped with side rails or curbs to restrain the wheelchair from falling off the edges of the ramp. Such a configuration has proven advantageous for baby strollers, walkers, bicycles, tricycles, scooters, wagons, roller blades, skateboards, and the like.
The connectors used to detachably interlock or connect the various modular elements in conventional modular cable protection systems, whether or not the ramps of the system have been adapted for use by the handicapped and elderly, suffer from a number of drawbacks and disadvantages. For example, the complimentary male and female T-shaped connectors formed along the sides of the main cable protector undesirably increase the overall width of the cable protector without increasing the cable-housing capacity of the cable protector itself. Specifically, because the T-shaped male and female connectors must be formed along the outer edges of the channels formed in the cable protector for housing the cabling, a substantial portion of the overall width of the cable protector is devoted to non-cable-housing uses. Thus, cable protectors employing T-shaped connector elements along its sides are typically much wider than non-modular cable protectors of the same cable-housing capacity. This configuration results in an inefficient waste in the amount of material required to produce the cable protector, which in turn results in an undesirable increase in overall production costs.
Similarly, the conventional strap-like ramp connectors used to detachably connect the wheelchair ramps to the cable protector suffer from a number of disadvantages. Specifically, because the protrusions formed on these strap-like ramp connectors must be engaged within recesses formed on the undersides of the wheelchair ramps and the cable protector, a user attempting to interconnect these elements may struggle to correctly align the protrusions within the appropriate recess when the undersides of the cable protector and the ramps are positioned so as to face the ground. In addition, because the detachable connection formed by engaging the strap-like connector's protrusions in the appropriate recesses is relatively weak, a strong torsional force applied to the wheelchair ramp (such as one transferred from the wheel of a heavy or powered vehicle) may be large enough to pull or break the protrusion from the recess it is engaged within.
Accordingly, a need exists for a cable protection system capable of quickly and easily expanding to a number of widths and lengths. A need also exists for a system that makes efficient use of the materials used to form the cable protector base and is capable of being adapted for use by the elderly and handicapped. Such a system may consist of various elements that are easy to align and interconnect and are capable of withstanding relatively large amounts of torsional force.